Watford station was situated on the north side of St Albans Road, approximately further down the line from London than the present-day Watford Junction station. This small, single-storey red-brick building was built in 1836–37 when the first section of the
London and Birmingham Railway (L&BR) was opened between London and . It was designed by the architect
George Aitchison. The station provided first and second-class waiting rooms, a departure yard, a carriage shed and engine house. The platforms were situated in a deep cutting which was accessed via a staircase. By 1839, the station is recorded in the
Bucks Herald as having a
corrugated iron roof, an
engine shed and stationary
pumping house with a tall chimney, and a footbridge. In its 21 years of operation it also served as a station for royalty; in the short period when the
Dowager Queen Adelaide was resident at
Cassiobury House (–1849), this station was remodelled to provide her with a royal waiting room, and it was also reportedly used by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on a trip to visit Sir
Robert Peel in November 1843, when they travelled by road from
Windsor Castle to take a train from Watford to . From 1846, the L&BR was absorbed into the
London and North Western Railway (LNWR). The old Watford station closed when it was replaced by the larger
Watford Junction station, which opened on 5 May 1858. The new station was located south of St Albans Road in order to accommodate the newly constructed
branch line to St Albans and later, the
Watford and Rickmansworth Railway and the
Watford DC Line. The junction station was rebuilt in 1909, and was extensively redeveloped in the 1980s. ==The building today==